Better than blaming bad judgement and gin
by LadyPalma
Summary: A collection of one-shots following prompts I've received on tumblr. Sea Devil [Cruella x Ursula] all the way.
1. In gin veritas

**_In gin veritas_**

**Prompt: Ursula taking care of/having to deal with a very drunk Cruella. Imagine unfiltered conversation and accidental confessions. But it's late and she needs to be put in bed. Both fluff and smut endings are possible.**

* * *

It took just a whole night out with Cruella, for Ursula to understand what kind of drunk she was. She didn't loose completely her mind, she didn't become particularly friendly or angrier – but that last thing would have been difficult, considering the woman's already high level of irritation. No, for most of the time, she simply remained aside, staring at the empty bottle of gin in front of her, with a sad expression on her face. She seemed almost ready to cry and frankly, the sea witch didn't know if being amused or softened about it.

"I take care of it" she finally said, standing up with a heavy sigh.

With those simple words, Ursula got rid of both the wolf girl's nasty glare and her two other friends, who were now excused from the likely heavy task she had instead decided to take. With a nod, she said goodbye to Regina and Maleficent and then headed towards the last member of the group, who was sitting right in front of the counter.

"Cruella… Are you alright?" she asked a bit cautiously, placing a hand behind the woman's back.

Mrs De Vil simply turned her head, just enough to look at the new arrived and at the same time to be looked as well. There was something that had gone missing before, something that now was amended by closeness: she wasn't ready to cry, her eyes were already full of tears. Suddenly, it was clear the truth behind the words _gin and desperation_ often used by Rumplestiltskin about her.

"I used to have a closet full of furs, you know that? Lars was a completely idiot… But he was rich and I had so many furs! So many furs and now they are all gone…"

Hearing those words, worry instantly vanished from Ursula's face and she didn't hold back the impulse of rolling her eyes. If there was a reason that could lead her ally to a minimal human reaction, of course that could be only a mass of animal hair! The fact somehow made her angry and she was even starting to consider the idea of leaving her there, with just the not so loving attention of Ms Lucas and her neice. Anyway, Cruella in the meanwhile hadn't stop talking and the matter of conversation had become another.

"… but maybe that's what I deserve! I am far too magnificent to live in peace in this world" she said in fact with temporary self-confidence, soon overturned by a pained expression though "But also cruel… I've destoryed a true love, perhaps…"

"Ah, really? Whose, Pongo and Perdita's?" the other woman interrupted her, still standing at her side, finding again the amusement for that situation.

"I said to the imp that his little maid has forgotten him… And that she didn't ask us about him! I've been really mean, right?"

"Oh, sweetheart, there is really no need to worry about the Dark One!" Ursula exclaimed, in an ironic and at the same time incredulous tone.

"But… But if we villains don't help each other, who is going to help us?" Crudelia insisted, with a strange light in her eyes, before suddenly grabbing her friend's arm.

The sea witch let out a bitter smile now and, if at first she had tensed up at the contact, then she didn't loose other time before being her the one to take the other woman's hands.

"For now, let me be the one to help you going to bed… What do you think?" she answered then with a hint of irony in the voice, but letting reveal also a certain apprehension.

And it was with that same apprehension that she kep her close, helping her to stand up and supporting her during the short but potentially dangerous way to their room at Granny's. Cruella, almost in a trance state, let herself be guided completely, even if she didn't stop talking even for a second. Furs, useless remorses and some malicious comment about the few people still remaining in the inn at that time: all was regular, at least until in that confused mix of words, an unusual and almost clashing thank you was added.

Ursula welcomed the unexpected gratitude with a forced smile and, without answering, she finally succeeded to lead her to the room they both shared since the arrival in town. She pulled the covers aside, gently stripped her from the fur and helped her lay down on the bed; she wasn't obliged to take care of her, but she felt like she _wanted _to after all.

"Should I talk to Rumplestiltskin? You know, in the end, I feel sorry for him and I kinda pity him…" Cruella was murmuring in the meanwhile, letting phisically herself go to those cares, but feeling mentally elsewhere "Or maybe I envy him…"

"For what? The short height?" Ursula echoed her, listening absent-mindedly, while removing the other woman's shoes.

That joke didn't have the hoped effect, quite the contrary it seemed to not even be heard. Cruella's eyes became wet again and the silence she fell in for a while, was almost worrying.

"No, because I didn't live a true love" she finally whispered with a calm and a bitterness almost unnatural "And I could have had it a long time ago, if only I haven't been such an idiot…"

Ursula stopped her moves and just stared at her for some moments in silence; she had understood more than what the woman had actually said, she had grasped completely the reference to their previous sort of relationship, a relationship that ended for many reasons after all – in case, the idiots were the both of them. However, after some moments of indecision, she faked ignorance and simply shook her head, preparing herself to speak with a forcely distant tone.

"Stop talking… I would like to sleep now, if you don't m-"

The words blocked in her throat, as blocked was the attempt to leave and reach the other bed in the opposite side of the room. For the second time in that night, Cruella had grabbed her arm and for the second time, that sudden touch had paralyzed her.

"I could have been really happy, we both could have… And maybe we still can… What do you say?"

The sea witch kept simply staring at her after that confession. Ignoring the reference would have been impossibile this time, as impossibe would have been blaming the alcohol: of course, she had been drinking too much, but the sincerity in her eyes was out of question.

If she had been sober she would have still thought those same things; the difference was that she wouldn't have said them out loud.

"In spite of everything, I still feel something for you" Mrs De Vil continued, without even realize the lack of answer and following simply the need to show what she was feeling – a chance given by the lack of filters in that moment. "And – what the hell! – I never fogot you… And I… I…"

"You what?" Ursula asked, confused by that interrumption and at the same time suddenly eager to hear what was next.

Cruella tried to sit up, pushing a hand on her mouth. "I… I think I am about to _throw up_"

Ursula widened her eyes and then slowly allowed herself a sincere laugh in the face of her friend. However she didn't hesitate much before taking her by the arms, ready to lead her now to the bathroom.

"Fine, I will hold your forehead, then…"

_And in the end, couldn't that be considered already a form of true love?_

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**Hello everyone! I'm starting this collection of short stories following some prompts I've received on tumblr. I will update as soon as possibile. Hope you liked this first one! Sea Devil is the way ;)**


	2. Being a villain

**Being a villain**

**Prompt:** **One of the "good' characters calls Ursula a villain in front of Cruella. How she reacts is entirely up to you.**

* * *

"I will have a cappuccino… Do you want something?"

"No, darling… I'm checking sales on _Emp _– sadly the only thing I can afford at the moment!"

Ursula slightly shook her head, throwing a glance to her friend, who was still standing up near the door of the inn, looking completely focused on the screen of her i-phone with the particolar spotted cover. In front of that vision, she held back an amused smile and then turned to the counter again, waiting for her breakfast.

But the waiting time ended up to be longer than the expectation, since she was preceeded by the redhead doctor, Regina's son and even sleeping beauty – who was now awake and with a son in her arms.

While the cappuccino wasn't ready yet, Cruella had already ordered two pair of shoes online.

"How long for my cappuccino? Or should I make it myself with my tentacles?" she protested with an annoyed tone, glaring at the wolf-girl who wasn't actually more friendly than her granny.

She had not even finished to talk that the waitress closed with the top the so desired cappuccino – just to hand it then with a smile to the well-known girl who had just arrived.

"You should stop complaining, sea witch" Belle said, passing her by with a pleased face, showing with satisfaction the drink just taken. "That is the least you deserve for being a _villain_, after all"

Anger immediately filled the woman hearing those insolent and unexpected words, and she was already preparing herself to answer and put her back in her place. But before she could, someone else was quicker than her and, with an almost supernatural speed, came between the two.

"What have you just said, little maid? You should watch your mouth!" Cruella said, almost growling at the librarian "I should have killed you when I had the chance… Don't you ever dare again calling her that way because you know absolutely nothing!"

"I'm not afraid of you, furrier" the girl whispered, trying to keep calm, even if her body language was saying otherwise.

"Oh instead you really should be, darling, because I could turn you into a fur even if you are not an animal…"

That not so empty threat was interrupted by Will Scarlet, the girl's new knight in shining armor, and by a chorus of voices whose owners were dangerously coming more closer. Only then, Ursula seemed to awake from the confusional state she had fallen in, and, finding again control of her body, she grabbed her friend by the arms.

"We are leaving… _Thanks for the cappuccino anyway_" she said with a hint of acidity, before leading Cruella out of the place, probably saving her from a group lynching.

* * *

Cruella tried to put the car in motion twice, before her hand slipped away completely and a heavy sigh escaped her lips. The scene inside the inn had annoyed her a lot and, now that they were both safe in her Panther De Ville, that state of agitation hadn't abandoned her yet - quite the contrary it seemed to be the reason why she couldn't do even the easiest gestures.

"Hey, are you sure to be okay?" Ursula asked in a worried tone, deciding only in that moment to speak up. "You seemed pretty angry in there…"

The other woman hinted an ironic smile and gave her a vaguely amused look. "I'm _always_ pretty angry, darling."

The sea witch didn't answer immediately, but just looked back at her eloquently. Of course, she was referring to something very different than her simple usual irritation, but there was no need to precise that, since she knew that Cruella had already understand that completely. Maybe none of them knew how to explain that sudden temper tantrum, or more probably they both were interpretating it very well, but were too scared to razionalize the meaning of it. So, they just remained in silence for a while, looking away, trying to let the anger and the surprised blow off..

"Why did you do that?" Ursula suddenly said anyway, betraying her intentions. "Did you think that I wasn't able to defend myself?" she added then, letting reveal now also a bit of irritation herself.

Mrs De Vil let out another heavy sigh and then quickly turned to face the other woman. "Of course you would be able! It's just that I-" she tried to answer, but before she coud finish, she suddenly stopped herself. "It's just that I don't like people insulting what's _mine_"

Whatever she had been on the cusp to say before was gone, but that last sentence was more than enough anyway – it was even too much for that moment actually. Ursula istinctively raised an eyebrow, not too much pleased to be compared to something like the Panther De Ville or one of her furs, but slowly a pleasant smile appeared on her lips: she didn't mind that possessivity, after all. The smile ended up turning into an almost happy one and it remained still on her face for some moments, until Cruella decided to clarify her intentions and involve her into an impulsive but surprisingly sweet kiss.

Maybe, seeing them now, no one would have called them _villains _after all.

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**Here it is prompt 2! Hope you liked this one too :)**


	3. Back together

**Back together**

**Prompt:** **Present day, Regina teasing snarkily on SeaDevil, asking if they are back together, and why? Regina ambiguously reminding them it didn't work the last time (if they're canon, we still don't knw what happened) but Seadevil defending their relationship.**

* * *

"So are you two back together?" Regina suddenly asked, with a vaguely ironic and provocatory tone.

She had invited the two sort of friends in her office with the excuse of a better plan of their renewed alliance, but that undercover job ended up to take soon another turn. Also because no question about the author or the happy ending was so interesting as that curiosity in that moment, after all.

""Yes, we are. Is there a problem with that?"

Unexpectedly it was Ursula the first to answer and both her tone and her look let reveal her irritation for what seemed to be a subtle accusation.

"There is no problem at all for me… But for you?" the mayor replied, with a small amused smile "In which way are you back together, exactly?"

"In _every_ possible way, darling"

This time it was Cruella to speak up and she did that with a hint of maliciousness, making a wink at the sea witch – wink that was immediately welcomed with a complicit smile. In fact, that almost lustful Xxchange of looks was already enough to grasp very well a type of harmony between the two, even and most of all on a much less romantic level than the one Regina had meant. Obviously they didn't have two different rooms – and not even two different beds – at Granny's; at that thought the mayor shook her head, as to dismiss that not so much innocent image from her mind, but didn't change subject anyway.

"Amazing" she commented, looking from one woman to the other "But, if I am allowed to ask that, why the hell is that? I mean, if I remember well it didn't go well the last time…" she continued immediately, while the ironic tone became now almost evil.

The absolute and rare joy on Cruella's face froze in that moment after those words, and it was replaced by an almost empty expression. Since she was the real addressee of that wisecrack, she perfectly remembered the last time she had tried to have a relationship with Ursula, and sadly – besides the passionate nights between the sheets and the small moments of happiness they had shared together – she also remembered the moment when she screwed it all up, following the chance of material wellness. With eyes widened and without trace of the usual self-confidence, she looked for a moment lost and, instead of frighten, she almost instilled pity. But it was only for a moment: in fact, no more than a few seconds, a familiar annoyed sigh escaped from her lips and, with an almost frenetic quickness, she stood up.

"You know nothing, mommy of the year. You'd better think about your love life, that as far I know is turning into dust…" she hissed with an unfriendly look, slightly sticking out towards the woman who had spoken, giving her back the accusation "In the meanwhile, I won't stand here listening to your stupid allusions…"

With that last sentence, she placed better the fur on her shoulders and, regained completely the usual self-assuredness– at least to all appearances -, she walked to the door and left the room without looking back.

Ursula followed her with her look and before the door was closed she was already up as well. Surely, she remembered their break up too, but she didn't forget also the traces of vulnerability that she had found in in her. For example, she knew that in that very moment Cruella was probably going to her room thinking about her regrets, that she would have closed herself in the bathroom crying believing not to be heard, and that she would hav e been angry for at least two days. And this was all a silly converted villain's fault, who couldn't just be happy – or at least shut up – about their try to be together again! So, in a sudden surge of irritation, she decided to delay her exit and turn instead to the major.

"I warn you, Regina: stay out of our relationship, or otherwise I will start constantly asking you about your woods thief – and trust me, it won't be pleasant" she said, showing a faked calm.

Regina seemed to stiffen instictively grasping the reference, and maybe that was the reason why, after a first silence, her expression seem to soften.

"There is no need for empty threats, Ursula dear. What I wanted to know is simply why…" she replied finally, looking this time genuinely confused. "I mean, she left you! How can you still trust her?"

"Because I still feel something for her, actually I think that we never stop to love each other!" the sea witch exclaimed without hesitation, probably reaching the point of exasperation so much that she didn't care about showing so openly her feelings. "I want the same as you, Regina, I want a chance at happiness. It's just that I don't want it with someone else, I want it _with her_ again"

"So, do you really believe that she is your happy ending?"

"I don't know. But what I know is whatever my happy ending is, I want her in the picture."

Regina looked at her for some moments without replying, totally surpised by the sincerity and the determination of those words; Ursula seemed ready to give herself a new chance to be happy even if she woudl have risked to end up hurt again. And that was probably the reason why seeing her friends so in love bothered her, because a part of her was jeaslous of that kind of love. Eventually she simply nodded, watching her going out the office and probably following the woman she clearly loved; only when she remained completely alone, a true and understanding smile crossed her lips.

_Maybe Ursula and Cruella hadn't changed a bit, but their relationship surely had._

* * *

**Prompt 3 up! Thank you for the support so far! And happy OUAT day everyone :)**


	4. Happiness in sickness

_**Happiness in sickness**_

**Prompt: One of them is sick and the other has to take care of them**

* * *

Ursula had never thought of herself as a lucky person: lots of misadventures had led her to become the villain that she was now and she had always had to face obstacles alone; nevertheless in that moment she felt like she was reaching the breaking point. In thirty years lived in that world, she had always been immune to any form of desease, and yet a temperature leap in that damned town had been enough to make her catch a fever.

"I'm back darling… A little better?"

The sound of the door and the well-known voice of her friend woke her up from the state of half-sleep and forced her to emerge from the cover. In front of her eyes was Cruella with two cups in hands, but most of all with a shocked expression on her face and the fur almost completely fallen off her shoulders.

"What the hell happened to you?" she asked immediately, finishing the lecit question with a little elegant coughing.

The other woman sighed heavily and looked up to the sky, approaching the bed and placing the drinks on the bedside. Then, she sat beside her and, only after having touched with unexpected care her forehead, decided to speak up.

"I had to wait twenty minutes for that old wolf, I had a quarrel with her niece and I've been almost attacked by the damned dalmatian of that damned doctor cricket! I really hate _alive animals_!" she suddenly exclaimed, finally speaking the frustration collected downstairs. "But I have our cappuccinos!" she added next, poiting with her look at the drinks and allowing herself an almost triumphant smile.

Ursula tried to hold a chuckle while listening to her. Of course, she couldn't say that her friend was very helpful in that situation, but at least she was the one that could succeed in cheering her up.

"Thank you, but given my condition – " she started to say, interrupting just to cough again "- A tea would have been more appropriated" she continued then, pretending to be more annoyed than she really was.

Cruella looked for a moment truly sorry, but decided to fake ignorance of that objection; instead, remaining silent, she helped the sea witch to sit and passed her the cappuccino, despite the previous complain. She watched her drinking and started sipping her drink as well, until the sick woman's shivers started to be more evident and the sight of those conditions became unbearable for her. In fact, she stood up and started to open the closet in their room, searching every corner; anyway, after a short research, an annoyed sigh escaped her lips, as a sign that she hadn't found what she was looking for.

"Damnt it! There are not even more covers…"

"Oh, don't worry, Cruella, I'm fine" Ursula assured her, while a surprised expression was forming on her face at the realization of that caring attention.

But Ms De Vil ignored her and, in silence again, came back to the bed. If the sea witch had been surprised by the kind intention of looking for a cover, it was nothing compared to the strange emotion she found herself feeling when that intention was put into effect in another way. In fact, Cruella ended up removing her precious fur and placing it around her friend's body.

"Are you sure of what are you doing? I've never thought that you would have given your fur away so easily…" Ursula noted after some instants of pure shock, trying to hide the sweetness she was feeling under a veil of irony.

Cruella gave her a quick smile and then put aside the cover, just to enter the bed as well and embracing the other woman. That was true, she didn't separate herself from the fur easily; quite the contrary it probably was the first time she allowed someone else to wear it. But the sea witch for her had always been the exception, after all.

"Don't worry, darling. I like fish smell, actually…" she whispered in her ear, with a mischievous chuckle.

With the echo of that rare and somehow precious laugh, Ursula closed her eyes again and let herself be rocked by that embrace.

And in that moment, _being sick wasn't actually that sick._


	5. What really happened in the tent

**_What really happened in the tent_**

**Prompt:** **Cruella as a complete power bottom teasing Ursula and Maleficent to make them compete for her?**

* * *

Cruella gracefully sat on one of the two beds and then slowing crossed her legs, giving a mischievous look to the other women. Surely the pleace didn't offer the best of comfort, but it could still be possible to try to enojy the situation – even if they were on a mission with the Charmings and forced to spend the night in a tent.

Both of her allies had _wits that matched their looks_, after all.

"So, which one of you wants to share my bed tonight, darlings?"

Ursula and Maleficent looked back at her in silence for some instants, undeniably taken by surprise by that question; then they looked at each other and both let out an ironic smile.

"And what makes you think that we want to sleep with you? Me and Ursula could even decide to sleep together …"

Ms De Vil shook her head at that objection and let out an amused chuckle, that also betrayed a certain self-confidence. She didn't know which one would have kept her company in that potentially boring and lonely night, but she was sure of one thing: even using her powers, she wouldn't have slept alone – or better, that night she wouldn't have slept _at all_.

"Darling, I will give you two reasons: first, I don't like sleeping alone and second, I really like playing with animals…" she answered now openly mischievous, removing her fur and remaining only in the long black dress.

And she wouldn't have removed that one herself.

Maybe that was the sign that the game was getting serious; that's why even the intentions of the two women seemed to change, showing themselves soon willing to take part in that unexpected - but surely exciting - situation.

"In this case, I think you will have to be prepared to control a dragon… That won't be easy" Maleficent was the first to reply, smirking and starting to approach Cruella.

But she hadn't considered the thrid woman who didn't hesitate more before stopping her, placing a tentacle between her and the bed. If until that moment she had remained silent, that didn't mean that she didn't want to play that challenge and, on the face of her determined look, also that she didn't want to be the one to occupy the empty bed.

"Ursula, com'on, do you really want to fight against me?" the dragon-woman asked, looking surprised but also amused.

"Nothing personal, Mal, but I don't see why I should deprive myself of all the fun…"

"Well, because among us I am the leader, the most powerful, and the one with the darkest heart… It is obvious the reason, don't you think?"

"You the leader… No, I don't actually think so" the sea witch echoed her in a jeering tone "At least not in this environment… I've had a certain type of experiences that made me very expert…" she continued then, not missing the chance to give an eloquent look to the object of their quarrel.

"Ah, have you? With a crab and a swordfish?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised of how much you can learn under the sea…"

Cruella observed the scene in silence, looking from one woman to the other. She felt important to be sought after by the two most powerful witches probably in the world, but anyway she was also starting to feel a hint of annoyance and impatience; she was a practical person who liked facts over beautiful words and she needed one more step to turn her curiosity into real excitment.

"Do you really believe to convince me with words, using simple and vain allusions?" she asked in fact, raising a marked eyebrow and letting out a heavy sigh.

Even this time the reaction was immediate but, contrary to the first time, it was Urusla the first to come forward. Cruella had not even stopped talking that she saw another tentacle of the witch extending from her body and quickly moving towards her. Until suddenly she stopped seeing it and started instead to _feel_ it advancing under her dress and climbing slowly her legs. This time she was really surprised and, surely, that wasn't an empty allusion. With widened eyes and a now clearly excited expression, she looked up just to meet Ursula's pleased look.

That was the step she had been waiting for.

Too soon the sea witch decided to interrupt that game and retract the tentacle though, giving unwillingly space to her rival to intervene. Not being slighlty annoyed by the scene she had been just a spectator of, Maleficent started to move again to Cruella, but this time without being stopped and so she succeeded in taking her by the arms and making her stand up. With the hands on the woman's hips and a mischievous smile on the lips, the woman-dragon allowed herself just some other seconds before making join their mouths in an alomost angry kiss. Ms De Vil, more and more excited, didn't hesitate to return it, but unluckily for her, that last provocation ended soon as well.

Laughing with an irony that only she could understand, Maleficent suddenly interrupted the contact and distanced herself a bit, changing radically her expression. Her look was now focused on both her friends and in that look, apart from the reflection of the laugh, there was also a remarkable trace of gravity.

"Anyway dear friends, I am pregnant" she revealed after some moments, bluntly.

Now the irony of that moment was clear to everyone. If she had tried to kill the mood, she surely succeeded in her intent. Both the women remained almost paralyzed with widened eyes, until Ursula's nervous chuckle interrupted the atmosphere.

"That's not possibile… And frankly not even funny…" she said, shaking her head, showing all her scepticism.

Cruella instead didn't join the laugh and, still with her eyes on her friend, ended up convincing herself that it wasn't a joke after all. But, apart from the news of the soon arrival of a little dragon, it was another the implicit realization that was shocking her and when it finally hit her, she brought a hand on her mouth and widened her eyes if possible even more.

"You… You are _het_, Mal?"

The questioned woman burst into a laugh and then sigh. "Bisexual actually" she corrected, approaching the empty bed "but for the moment I am not interested anyway, Cru… So, have fun tonight, but not too much, please, because I'd like to sleep" added then, winking at the two before laying down and turning, giving them her back.

Cruella, still astonished, looked at her with a hint of disappointment. But that feeling lasted only for a moment and the next one, she was already mischievous again and the only addressee of it was Ursula now.

"Oh, no, don't even think about it. I don't like being a second choice" the sea witch interrupted her with a hint of pride, once understood her intentions.

After she had said that, she tried to go away, but the other woman was quicker and grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop; it was her the one to approach then and to close the distance between them in a passionate and angry kiss, probably even more intense than the one previously received by Maleficent.

"Com'on darling… I would have chosen you anyway"

"Ah, really?" Ursula asked ironically in reply, not loosing the pride despite the kiss almost left her without breath.

Cruella gave her the unteempth mischievous smile and slowly nodded. "Of course, Ursula… You have _tentacles_, after all."

* * *

**Hey! Here it is prompt n. 5, also starring Maleficent LoL Hope you liked it, let me know! :)**


	6. Nightingale

_**Nightingale**_

**Prompt: Could you maybe write a fluffy reunion story set after last night's episode? Thank you :)**

* * *

_**Can you be my Nightingale? Sing to me I know you're there**__**  
**__**You could my sanity, bring me peace, sing me to sleep**__**  
**__**Say you'll be my Nightingale**_

_**[Nightingale - Demi Lovato]**_

There had never been such a talent to cheer Storybrooke's drunkard, and if things kept going like that, Granny's inn would have been empty soon enough. The Rabbit Hole was crowded that night and everyone, with a tankard of beer in hand, were listening to the enchanting voice of the sea witch, who was finally free to do what she always wanted to: make people on land happy with her singing.

Among those people, there was also Cruella, but contrary to all the other costumers, she was drinking superalcoholics and she seemed more desperate than enchanted, truth be told. She had temporarily left her allies without many explanations and, after a week since Ursula's departure, she finally surrendered to the undeniable desire of seeing her again and also to the one of hearing her sing.

She was good, so good that her eyes almost became watery, but that display of skill didn't calm her suffering, quite the contrary it was making it more painful.

"Cruella! What are you doing here?"

The woman almost jumped hearing that familiar voice behind her back. How the sea witch was able to appear so suddenly that close to her was a mistery! Obviously, she hadn't realized that the other had stopped singing and approached her table. It was very likely since she had been lost all the time in her reverie and also blinded by the alcohol she had already drunk in an avarage of a shot at every song.

Even thought she was sitting in a half hidden place and even left the fur in the car, it seemed that she hadn't been unnoticed. Maybe it had been the hair to betray her. Or maybe Ursula would have found her anyway.

"You could have asked singing. When you speak your voice isn't so beuatiful, you know?" she replied after some seconds of silence, trying to fill the tone with as much venom as she could.

But Ursula had learned how to be immune to that poison. She slowly moved until she found herself in front of her former ally, giving her an almost amused smile. "I see a compliment between the lines…"

"Well, what do you want me to say? Your voice is amazing, yes… And it's the least considering that you betrayed us for this, _darling_!"

The accusation was now explicit and there was no need to force the anger in the tone. But the worst thing was the total lack of color in that darling, that usually sounded caring and tender when used for her. The smile froze completely on Ursula's face and it was replaced immediately by a deep sigh.

"Then, what have you come here for?"

Cruella chuckled bitterly and shook her head, taking another long sip of gin. "Have you thought even for a second about me, while you were going back to your daddy dearest?" she asked then, with the same tone as before, ignoring for the second time the question.

Hearing those words, it was Ursula's time to chuckle and also feel angry. If she had thought about her? Actually, no, not at first. She was so glad to be back to her old self that she had forgetten what her newself wanted to be happy; she had forgotten that between the mermaid and the witch there had been something beautiful in her life: in the meantime, she had met Cruella.

"And have you ever thought about me in thirty years?"

Cruella slowly put down the glass on the table and finally looked up at the other woman for the first time. "_Always_"

The answer arrived so simply, clearly and bluntly, that Ursula believed to feel her heart stop for a moment. And then start again, suddenly quicker, almost frenetic, almost ready to burst inside her chest. And in the meantime she remained silent, returning that bitter, sad, guilty look.

"I… I have to go back singing"

It was all she was able to say in a whisper, remembering a lesson she had learnt from Cruella herself. _Running away is easier._

But Ms De Vil had learnt a lesson as well; in fact she quickly stood up and grabbed the sea witch's arm, forcing her to stay.

"Do you wanna be a fucking nightingale? Fine, that's just fine darling! But can't you stay with me and sing to me? I don't want you to leave, not like this, not without me… Say you'll be _my_ nightingale, please"

Those words naturally came out of her mouth as a flood and her voice was loud and steady, but her face started to be crossed by tears. Cruella De Vil was crying and well, that was a rare show too.

Ursula remained to look at her in silence for a while, but it didn't took much before an impulse of tenderness literally pushed her to the other woman. She reduced the distance between them in a few steps and slowly raised a hand to caress her face and take away with that gentle gesture the tears. But tears had formed in her dark eyes as well and, fearing that her voice would have been an ostacle rather than a help in that very case, she decided to express her feeling in another way; a long sweet kiss ended their sort of cold war and also conveyed a lot more.

"I am sorry…" the sea witch murmured, interrupting that contact after a while. "I shoulnd't have left that way, I should have stayed for you. I will help you to find your happy ending and then we can both be hap- Hey, what is it?"

Cruella had suddenly burst into a laugh, but it was a sincere, happy one this time. She shook her head and, still smiling, closed the distance between them, reclaiming again a kiss but this time more passionate and almost possessive.

"_Don't worry about that, darling. You have already given me a happy ending"._

* * *

**Hello everyone! After last episode, I think we all need some fluff for them, so here it is! Hope you liked it and thanks to _evaernst _for the prompt! :) I took inspiration from Demi's song because seriously I can't stop listening to it now and think about SeaDevil... Is that normal? LoL**

**See you soon!**


	7. Something to tease about

**_Something to tease about_**

**Prompt: Ursula catches Cruella ogling at Pongo but not in a "I want to make u into a fur coat" way but like a "awwww puppy" way and Ursula teases her for it.**

* * *

Cruella and Ursula had almost become part of the town now; or at least they had succeeded in finding a table at Granny's and in being served in a relatively short time – and that already was a big deal. Anyway, Cruella didn't seem to enjoy completely that little victory, quite the contrary in almost five minutes she had not even touched her drink yet, she had only answered with monosyllables to her girlfriend's question and her look had seemed to be lost all the time on a distant point.

"…And at that point, Blackbeard and I gave up to passion on the Jolly Roger"

With those absurd words, the sea witch ended the unidirectional conversation. The last add was totally out of tune compared to the rest of the speech and in fact some heads had turned astonished in her direction; but the only person she was trying to impress not even realized it, continuining instead to nod absent-mindedly.

"Damn it, Cruella!" she exclaimed at that point, more and more annoyed by the situation, grabbing one of the woman's arm. "Have you heard a single word I said?"

Ms De Vil almost jumped at the unexpected contact, but that half scare was able to finally wake her up from her daydream. "Of course I've been listening to you! You've just said that you and Blackb- wait, what?"

With widened eyes and the black marked eyebrows almost reaching the two-coloured hair, she ended up screaming the last word and for the second time all the looks in the inn were on them. Only that this time, among those looks, there was also Granny's one and she was probably already regretting the decision to give them a sort of truce.

"Relax, I was just kidding…" Ursula simply whispered letting reveal a little amused smile. "At least you can understand what I feel watching you stare with _puppy eyes_ at that doctor!" she added immediately after, though, letting reveal now all the irritation she had collected until that moment.

"Which doctor?"

"The doctor you have been staring since you have sitted!"

Despite the clarification, Cruella seemed still completely confused and unaware of the reference. So much that even the other woman found herself to be confused as well and, while the doubt started to form in her mind, she turned to better observe the scene that had captured her girlfriend's attention. Doctor Hopper was sitting in front of the counter, sipping a coffee and happily talking with his friend Geppetto, while Pongo was wagging his tail and staring at his owner's donut.

Only then Ursula realized that it was somebody else - and not the doctor - the object of Cruella's attention. And no, that someone else wasn't the carpenter.

"Oh, for the seven seas! You have fallen in love with that dalmatian, haven't you?" she teased then, openly chuckling.

"What the hell are you thinking? Of course not!" the other replied, pretending to be almost offended and disgusted.

Nevertheless that reaction wasn't immediate and the short hesitation was enough to confirm the suspects. As the fact that her eyes were again on the dog.

"Com'on! You are doing it again!" the sea witch exclaimed, catching her clearly red-handed. "Admit it that you would like to have one like that for yourself"

"Of course I would… Having a fur of dalmatian has always been my biggest desire, you know that!" Ms De Vil answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, but judging by the uncertainty of her tone, it wasn't so obvious after all.

"No, your eyes are saying _I'd like so much to caress his spotted skin_ and not _I'd like so much to skin him and put him on as a fur_!" it was the unteempth ironic correction.

But if Ursula was having fun, Cruella was only gaining back her usual irritation, that for a while had been calmed right because of the sight of the animal. There was a bit of truth if that accusation indeed, and feeling now easily prey of mockery was annoying her but at the same time also causing her embarassment.

"Would you really kill such a sweet and cute _big puppy_?" the sea witch insisted again, continuining that playful tease and stressing with a melliflous tone the epithet given to Pongo.

"Yes!" Cruella quickly answered, still trying to hide the strange tenderness she was feeling toward the animal. "But I could do that with painless poison… Or I could also spare him and wait for his puppies! I have a feeling that there will a lot of them…" she added later though, showing with those little ideas that she had a _soft spot_ for him after all.

The embarassment was increasing and that was the reason why she suddenly shut up and, carefully avoiding to look again at the dalmatian, she finally took the coffee hiding the face into the cup. Ursula smiled again and grabbed her free hand, with a softened expression.

"If you really like them so much, we could adopt a puppy!" she exclaimed then, chuckling for the unteempth time.

Cruella glared at her but decided not to reply, sipping with apparent indifference the coffee. That was at least until a sudden realization hit her and a mischievous smile formed on her lips.

Now it was her turn to tease.

"Ursula, darling?"

"Yeah?"

"Were you really jealous of that half cricket?"

Their eyes met and they made in silence a sort of deal.

They would have never talked about that morning again. Never _ever_ again.


	8. Empty sheets

_**Empty sheets**_

**Prompt: Cruella is a cuddler.**

* * *

It was about midnight, but sleepiness hadn't arrived yet in room number 5 of the inn. The two witches were in Storybrooke since a week so far and that double bed was all that forced them to stay close, but at the same time it was also the thing that separated them. Empty sheets were in fact between them and a disquieting silence was filling the room. Cruella was staring at the ceiling lost in her thoughts, while Ursula had at least the sense of keeping her eyes shut and pretending to be asleep.

"Can I come closer?" the woman with two-coloured hair asked suddenly with a slightly uncertain tone.

Ursula was taken by surprise by the unexpected question, but remained motionless and, instead of widening her eyes out of astonishment, she not even opened them.

"Com'on, darling. I know very well that you are not really sleeping…" the other woman continued then with an annoyed sigh. "Usually you snore when you sleep!"

Where surprise hadn't been enough, pride proved to be successful.

"I do _not_ snore."

Cruella chuckled amused and turned on her side to have a better vision of the sea witch. She was supine, with her eyes still closed and the body wrapped into the sheet; the almost blonde hair were falling on the pillow in a mess and, if it was in accord with the white of the pillow, it was making a hard contrast with her dark skin. Thinking about it, Ursula was a perfect mix of black and white as well.

"So, can I come closer?" she asked again, while her laugh fell into a simple hinted smile.

And in the meantime, without waiting for the answer, she had already gained some space.

"You never were the cuddler type. Have you gone soft because of your dear husband?"

That objection was spoken in a sarcastic and even almost evil tone and it signed Ursula's decision to join that night conversation. But unluckily for Cruella, not in the way she would have liked. The sea witch finally opened her eyes and slowly rolled on her side as well, without the slightest hint of understanding on her face; meanwhile on Ms De Vil's one any will to joke vanished and those words had the immediate effect to stop her from the intent to approach. In a new silence, maybe even more unberable than the previous one, the two women remained one in front of the other just looking at each other.

"Feinberg has nothing to do with that, if that's what you are worried about" Cruella finally said almost bitterly. "We even had two different rooms"

The sea witch's look became now inquiringand also slightly empathic, but she still hadn't let down her walls. "What's changed then?"

The other sighed. "It changed the fact that now I can't bear the thought of being so far from you…" she admitted with hard honest.

"And _thirty years_ are not a big distance?"

Cruella bitterly smiled and allowed herself some more seconds of silence. She had expected that; here it was the explosion of anger and resentment she had been waiting for since the moment they met again, and frankly she knew to deserve all of it. After all, it was her the one to screw it all in New York and leave Ursula because of something that proved to be empty and useless. But then, she wasn't a cuddler after all. Well, she wasn't even now but she felt like she could make an exception.

"Yes, but thirty years _and a week_ is more" she replied then, with irony, but in her voice there was also a trace of something else, something dangerously close to hope.

And it was that something to make Ursula roll her eyes, but at the same time it also made appear a weak smile on her face for the first time that night. Ms De Vil immediately noted that tiny glimmer and didn't lost the chance to take advantage of it; slowly, without asking any permission this time, she arrived to touch and hug Ursula, placing her head on her shoulder. The sea witch hesitate only a moment before hugging her back and caress the excentric hair that she had missed so much. And the hair wasn't the only thing she had missed of her, actually. Neither of the two dared to add something else, for fear to ruin the moment; the silence had now something comfortable, maybe because for the first time they didn't feel alone to face it. They remained like that, simply one in the arms of the other, until they eventually fell asleep.

For the first time, Ursula didn't have to pretend and Cruella didn't have to take gin to close her eyes.

_Not now that there were no empty sheets between them anymore._

* * *

**Happy ouat day! If you have any idea, you can send me prompts here or on tumblr (my name is reginadiutopia there). See you soon with other prompts! :)**


	9. The morning after

**_The morning after_**

**Prompt: waking up at Granny's**

* * *

The annoying alarm clock of Ursula's phone rang at least two times, before the woman decided to interrupt her mumbling and finally end the pleasant dream she was having. But when she opened her eyes, she had to admit that the reality wasn't actually that bad either. Leaning on her chest, with an unusually calm expression and most of all with only her under-garmet on, there was Cruella and that was actually the first thing the sea witch saw that morning. She didn't know exactly how to explain how they had ended up in that way the night before, even if she had a general idea about it. The details instead had been wiped out by the abuse of alcohol of the party they had along with Maleficent and Regina.

Suffocating a yawn and slowly wiggling out of the other woman's grip, Ursula sat up and, after having turned off the alarm clock, started to kindly shake her.

"Ehy, Cru, wake up…"

There was no need for more solicitations before the sleeping woman stopped to complain and finally opened her eyes, even if judging by the completely upset expression on her face, she was still partly lost in the world of dreams. She stretched with little elegance, then rolled in the sheets mumbling something impossibile to understand; only when she finally got used to daylight and wakefulness, she looked for the sea witch, only to find her sitting in front of her almost completely undressed.

"Oh, darling, what the hell happened last night?" she asked, raising both the marked eyebrows, but the mischievous smile on her face revealed that she knew very well the answer and also that she liked it very much.

Ursula smiled as well and gave her an eloquent look. "I don't know exactly, but I think it was something good…"

Ms De Vil openly chuckled now and slowly sat up as well. Reaching for her friend, she grabbed kindly her face and attracted her to herself to place a kiss on her lips.

"Something good, indeed" she whispered, echoing her words, before kissing her again.

They hadn't talked about their relationship yet and as a matter of fact that kiss was the first real one after thirty years, but all was so natural now that time seemed not to have passed at all and that none of their misunderstandings ever happened. They were back together – that was what Ursula told Regina on the phone when they arrived in Storybrooke, but there hadn't been a way to clarify exactly which shade had the word together. Now it seemed suddenly clear, though. Obviously the events of the night before speeded up things between them, temporarily saving them from embarassing explainations, and gave Cruella the right to advance that courageous kiss – quickly reciprocated, by the way.

It was Ursula the first to break the contact, but not because she was changing her mind - and the michievous and at the same time sweet smile on her face was confirming that.

"I will take a shower…" she said, glancing for one last time to the other woman and then standing up, heading to the bathroom.

Cruella absent-mindedly nodded, while she followed her with the eyes. Actually, she needed a cold shower too, but, considering the heavy hangover, she needed something else first.

"Perfect! I will take the coffees then!" she exlaimed, standing up and leaving the bed as well.

"Ok, for me-"

"With vanilla, I know that, darling"

That's another proof of the fact that time seemed to stand still: Ursula's favorite coffee was still the same and Cruella remembered that. A last exchange of looks and a last complicit smile, before the sea witch finally entered the bathroom. Or at least that was her intention, since she seemed to think it over and turned back again.

"What's up? Go taking your shower, you will have the time to have two of them until the old wolf decides to serve me!" Cruella exclaimed, chuckling, with her hand on the handle, ready to go and face the hell downstairs.

But Ursula didn't seem to appreciate the joke and just stared at her with a confused and yet secretly amused expression. Clearly, the hangover was even more heavy than expected and now her friend was showing all the effects of it.

"I wouldn't bet on it, you know? If you show up this way, I think that half Storybrooke would offer you a coffee, sweetheart!"she commented, not looking away from the other woman's body.

"What are you say- Oh, my _dog_!"

Cruella's eyes widened immediately and the confused expression turned into an astonished one. In fact, it just took following Ursula's gaze, and so looking down her own body as well, to finally realize that she was still undressed and that she was about to climb down the stairs that way. In meantime the sea witch had started laughing and, if at first she received a glare, soon enough the animal witch joined that laugh too.

"I believe you should rethink your attire, also because I don't like other people to see what I've been the one to see last night…" Ursula said, revealing a little trace of jealousy now.

And that hint was all Cruella needed to reconsider and give up her plans. Slowly, she moved away from the door, but instead of reaching for her clothes, she headed to the bathroom, reaching for the other woman with a mischievous smile on the lips.

"You are right… Then what about remembering what happened last night?"

The sea witch hesitated only a moment before nodding and dragging the other along with her into the shower.

Coffee could wait, after all.


	10. Of husbands and wives

_**Of husbands and wives**_

**Prompt:** **Ursula is upset/angry that Cruella had a husband in the non-magical world and gives her a hard time about it. Cruella doesn't understand why it is such a big deal. :)**

* * *

Cruella and Ursula had been among the first people to get the news of the upcoming marriage between Regina and Robin Hood, but their reaction wasn't probably the one that any bride-to-be would have liked to see from her friends. Of course, the sea witch had tried her best to express her joy and even hugged her, but Ms De Vil hadn't even tried to hide her disapproval. Mumbling some unhappy comments, she had remained all the time sitting on the couch, sipping a glass of gin and throwing doubtful looks to the other two women, until – probably also because of that behavior – the former Evil Queen decided to stop her short visit.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ursula bursted, once the door was closed.

The smile she had used to say goodbye to Regina was already gone, and now on her face there was only space for an annoyed expression addressed to her girlfriend.

"What are you referring to, darling?" the other woman asked herself, in an uncertain tone. And the worst parst was that the confusion wasn't fake.

"Oh, for the seven seas, Cruella! You could at least pretend to be happy for them, couldn't you?"

An ironic smile crossed Cruella's lips now at that explicit explanation, finally realizing the reason of that reproach. "Oh, that's it then… Well, forgive me if I don't see the happiness of willingly becoming someone else's slave"

The destructive and distressing definition she had just given to the concept of marriage, managed to raise even more Ursula's anger. As if it was a personal matter! But after all, the animal witch had already had chances to understand how talking about marriage – and expecially about her ex husband – was a sort of silent taboo between them.

"No one has dragged a gun on you when you got married, as far as I know…"

Truth be told, she had been the one to drag a gun on Feinberg. But that was another story.

"No, but you have no idea of the sacrifices and the boredom I had to endure! And all of this for what? Now he's in jail and he has left me with not even a dime… Ah! I hope he will burn into Hell!"

"Oh, poor thing… I don't dare imagine the Hell of living in clover without moving a finger!" Ursula replied with a sharp tone, remembering the hard work that in those thirty years happened to herself instead.

That sarcasm succeeded unexpectedly to hurt Cruella, who, after another generous sip of gin, quickly looked up, showing an annoyed expression.

"Can you tell me what the hell is your problem? I got married, yes, and it was for money… I frankly can't see where is the big deal!"

The last words were immediately followed by the sea witch's incredulous and bitter chuckle. Usually, she would have loved any absurdity and any contraddiction her woman was the spokesperson of, but not now, not if all of this was hurting her. Because for her it was actually a _big deal_, an unberable boulder that hadn't allowed her yet to enjoy their new fonde love.

"You really don't get it?" she echoed her, ironically "You have left me and before three months were passed, you already were Mrs Feinberg! Was it really that easy for you to give up on me and forget me?"

The above-mentioned Mrs Feinberg shook her head and almost rolled her eyes. "I've already told you… It was for money!"

"I know! And that's bothering me even more!" the other woman quickly replied, in a new burst of anger. "Because you have preferred money to me, because I wasn't worth some jewels and a couple of furs… Does love really mean so little for you? And marriage… Is it really that meaningless?"

And at the end of those questions, anger turned into heavy sadness, betrayed by the tears that already were forming into her dark eyes. Standing up in front of the couch, with the arms leaned on the hips, Ursula kept staring at her girlfriend, not caring about her current weakeness. But it wasn't long before Cruella interrupted that silence; there was no will to joke this time in her expression as she suddenly understood the seriousness of the situation and she started to feel a sense of shame toward herself. Maybe because she was finally understanding that the octopus woman's weakness was also her own. So, she put the glass down on the little table beside her and slowly stood up as well, starting to approach her, until she could gently grab her wrists.

"I am happy now with you, I know now that you matter to me more than any other thing…"

In that suddenly sincere whisper, there was no justification for the past, but just the satisfaction for that present, the present when she was finding out that her happy ending had always been in front of her, but she had been just too silly and blind to realize it.

"And then, if you wanna know, I have a romantic vision of marriage too…" she contined then, letting out an enigmatic smile.

"Ah? For example what?" Ursula asked, curiosity trembling in her voice out of general agitation.

"For example, I would like to have a _wife_ and not a husband…"

The sea witch was undebiably caught by surprise this time by the naturalness of that allusion, a naturalness that almost feeded one of her secret desires. She hated herself for that hope and so decided to mask it with an ironic remark.

"So, if I ask you to marry me you could also say yes?" she asked in fact, with a forced laugh, trying to wiggle out of the other woman's grip.

But Cruella held her while the determined expression was still on her face; she was now the one to conduct that difficult matter and in a way that until that moment she had never expected.

"Yes, I could" she found herself answering, but not joking at all.

Their eyes met and this time Ursula's ones were showing a pure fear, the fear of being really completely happy. She could feel her heart ready to burst into her chest for that display of love that surely costed a lot to Cruella, but she didn't say anything. Before tears could actually fell from her eyes, she grabbed in fact her girlfriend by the waist and involved her into a kiss that had the taste of love, sweetness, passion, but that also seemed to represent something more.

_Because unexpectedly, unawarily and implicitly, they had just officially got engaged._


	11. A shot is better than a damn!

_**A shot is better than a damn!**_

**Prompt: Ursula and Cruella dancing?**

* * *

"Com'on darling, let's have a drink!"

The answer to that umpteenth proposal was an umpteenth annoyed sigh. Ursula didn't want to let herself go that night and her mind seemed to be very far from the crowded place they were in at the moment; the Dark One alone in his cabin, Maleficent and Regina kidnapping a child, while she and Cruella were supposed to wait for a sign to intervene: actually there was more than a reason to be sober and alert.

"Oh, please… I've already oredered four shots, you don't really want to make me drink alone, do you?" Cruella asked again. And in the meanwhile she had already had two drinks. "Oh, thanks, darling…" she said to the barman who had just served her. "Tell me, when do you find such a quick service at Granny's?"

After that comment, said more to herself than to anyone in particular, she glanced one last time to the guy beyond the counter and then focused again all her attention on her girfriend. While she was giving her one of the gin-fulled little glass, on her face there was an usual annoyed expression but at the same eyes uenxpected _puppy eyes._ And frankly, the sea witch didn't know which side was scaring her the most.

"Alright! _Damn you_, Cruella!" she exclaimed eventually, after a slight hesitation. She looked up to the sky, but she surrounded to take the shot of gin.

Cruella smiled triumphantly and made their shots touch. "Remember, _a shot is better than a damn_!"

Almost a hour and many – _too_ many – shots later, there hadn't been any damns and, on the contrary, it looked like any worry had been completely vanished from their minds. Cruella kept her good humour - that the gin had only increased – and about Ursula… Well, she was totally euphoric.

After just joking and laughing at first, they suddenly decided to start dancing and, in spite of every expectations, it was the sea witch to suggest that idea. Moving with a good sense of rhytm, they started to head to the centre of the room, where they let loose with more decided and provocative moves, which implied a mischievous closeness between their bodies. Everbody's eyes were already on them, but – even if liking the attention – they only had eyes for each other.

That already curious show, had the opportunity to worsen though. And the worst happened when "_I love rock 'n roll_" by Joan Jett started to play.

"I love this song!" Ursula exclaimed, stopping abruptly to dance and almost clapping with an unusual ecstatic expression.

"Then, we have to dance it properly, darling!" Cruella answered mirroring her enthusiasm, while a mischievous smile went forming on her lips.

This time it was the animal witch's turn to lead the game; in fact, she grabbed her girlfriend's hand and drag her toward the counter. After making two men move aside, Cruella removed her precious fur and – thing even more strange – even her high heels; then she climbed on the table and offered her hand to the other woman. Keeping mumbling the song's words to herself, Ursula didn't loose time before accepting the help and so, right in time for the refrain, they both found themselves jumping barefoot on the counter. They started to move in an even more sensual way than before and their hands started to touch each other's body, almost seeking for a deeper contact, one that they knew they couldn't have in that moment though; back to back, face to face, almost touching lips… It was a luck that the song ended in that moment and that the crazy dance left them almost out of breath.

While the two were staying one in the arms of the other, happily laughing, the whole club suddenly clapped, along with excited exclamations and whistles of admiration. Cruella, as the drama queen she was, attempted to make a half bow to her public, but Ursula – probably realizing the extension of their night folly – climbed down from the counter and invited the other woman to do the same. The crowd didn't calm down though and actually it was reclaiming seconds. The new song by a certain _Ellie Goulding_ wasn't inspiring enough, though.

"A free shot for the two _queens of the Rabbit Hole_!" the barman exclaimed.

Cruella glanced at him and then also gave him a complicit wink. She had said it immediately that he was a real _darling_, after all.

"You know what I want to do now?" Ursula suddenly whispered, reclaiming her attention again.

The two-colored haired woman let out a chuckle and made their faces very close again. "Hopefully, the same thing I want…"

"Well, but we should come back to Granny for than…"

"The hell with Granny! We have my car!"

With that determined suggestion, Cruella ended any doubts and, not able to resist her instincts anymore, involved Ursual in a passionate kiss. However all the intensity of the moment was soon interrupted by the persistent vibration of a phone coming from the sea witch's leather racket.

A missing call from Maleficent: free time was over, it was time to come back to work.

"Damn it!" she instinctively cursed, not hiding her irritation.

Cruella instead, even if she was annoyed too, gave excellent proof of resilience. In fact, almost reproaching Ursula with her look for that change of humour, handed her one of the little glasses that the barman had just served them, as promised.

"Drink, my darling. And remember, a shot is –"

"- Better than a damn!" the sea witch concluded, not hesitating this time to drink all the gin in just one sip.

And, juding by the new smile on her lips, it looked like she had seriously started to believe that as well.

* * *

***The title is taken by a sentence from "Brave New World" by Huxley. It was originally "A gramme is better than a damn".**

**I would really like to know if you are liking this collection so far... By the way, I'm almost running out of prompts, so if you want to give me some I'd be glad to take them:)**


	12. Lannisters don't get happy endings

_**Lannisters don't get happy endings**_

**Prompt:** **So, since I love your collection, I wanted to ask you if you could take a prompt from me! It would be a prompt where you'd just write a chapter inspired on some show tv... Like, idk.. you could write Cruella/Ursula inspired on Alex/Piper from OITNB or on... uh, why not? Jaime/Cersei from GoT. Idk, you have free will on that, I'd just love to read something about both of them inspired on some couple canon/non-canon from some show tv.**

_[I've chosen a GOT AU, with Ursula!Jaime and Cruella!Cersei. Plus Rumplestiltskin!Tyrion and Henry!Bran and guest star of Tywin Lannister. The last part takes explicitly inspiration from Got 1x01]_

* * *

Many praises could be sung of Tywin Lannister in politcs and war, but no one could say that he had a enviable progeny. Rumplestiltskin with deformed and almost scaled body – called by everyone _evil imp _– and Ella – better known as Cruella -, with hot-tempered nature and eccentric behaviors: here's the last two lions left. Actually, there was also Ursula, but her dark skin already gave proof of the fact that she was a story aside; born from Tywin's affair with a plebian singer, she was technically a Stone, even if with her brilliant career as knight, she had revealed herself to be more useful than his legitimate children ever did.

Tywin would have really desired Ursula to be a Lannister, but she wasn't. And Ursula and Ella had that awareness too: it was something they repeated to each other since as children they had started to find something more in their relationship. And it was a mantra repeated not as a means of exclusion, but more like a justification of their sinful thoughts that in short time turned into acts. "You have brought the devil in our house" his wife Joanna used to say, alluding to his bastard. It was almost ironic to think about it now, since _devil_ is how they called Ella instead.

But Tywin didn't want to remember, he didn't want to think about the past and not even about the future. Rumplestiltskin had married Belle Stark and brought the North to their side, Ella was the queen of the Seven Kingdoms and mother of two princes, and Ursula years before had given to him Aerys Targaryen, gaining the title of "king's slayer".

All was going well for now and the Lannisters would have kept on roaring for a little more.

The door of the queen's chamber suddenly opened, but she didn't have the slightest reaction of fear. Instead, she simply looked away from the window and turned around, letting her long blonde hair shake in a not casually sensual way; walking slowly with a goblet of wine in her hand, she started to approach the door, welcoming with a smile the expected guest. There was only a person in all the Red Keep that could enter scaring queen _Cruella_'s room without risking to meet the Mountain the next day. And that person was Ursula Stone.

"_Sister_, you look very beautiful tonight" Ursula commented, stressing the epithet with an ironic tone.

Ella moved quicker and made a nervous chuckle. "_Half-sister_" she precised, giving her a peremptory look, before reclaiming without hesitation the other woman's lips.

A fire seemed to explode inside them at that contact and that fire, fomented by the sinfulness of their relationship, continued to burn up as the kiss became more passionate and Ella's hand started to free in a sudden rush Ursula's body from the armor. Under the knight's livery, gentle curves appeared to her eyes; that body could have driven crazy any man, but actually only the queen had had the chance to discover it. Yes, under the armor, Ursula hid a rare beauty as well.

"Why have you taken so long?" Ella suddenly asked, breaking the burning kiss.

"Your husband…"

At that simple reticent answer, she looked up to the sky. Ursula started to kiss her again, this time with more sweetness, and then approach the mouth to her ear.

"I will kill that _drunk deer_, sooner or later…"

Ella laughed amused and slightly nodded, excited at that idea that wouldn't have been realized though. At least for the moment.

"So, I will make a big fur with his skin, _darling_"

It was Ursula's turn to smile, even if for just a moment. The next one, her lips were already on her half-sister's milky neck and this time it was her hands removing the luxurious red Lannister dress from the queen's body. In less than a few minutes, they were both almost completely naked on the bed, enojoying in the dark that instant of light for their forbidden love.

"I wish we were born in Dorne" the Stone woman said out of the blue at some point, with a strange bitterness.

A bitterness that the Lannister woman couldn't understand and to which she answered only with a confused expression.

"Why? So we can make provisions of wine?"

Ursula allowed a weak smile to that ironic joke and kissed her again, deciding to let the subject go. In Dorne they were more tolerant in sexual matters, in Dorne women could be with other women more freely, in Dorne sibilings could be together freely. Maybe not even in Dorne they would have been free and happy, but for now in her mind Dorne was like a perfect Utopia. However, they were Lannisters instead and Lannisters aren't meant to get happy endings.

The sudden squeak of the door was enough to interrupt that moment and make them separate with an alarmed expression on their faces. Passion had allowed an unsual negligence and someone had been spying from the half-closed door; yes, someone had pushed the door, someone had seen them. The wooried look of the queen made the knight act soon; the door was quickly opened and in front of Ursula's sword the terrified face of the young Henry of House Stark appeared.

"It's alright…" the Stone whispered, with a mellifluous tone. She lowered the sword, but grabbed him by the neck and dragged him into the room.

Instants of endless silence passed, during which – Henry knew that – his life was being decided. The women knew him well, but exactly the fact that he was the heir of that so hated House wasn't a good sign for him. If one of their enemies had found out about their relationship, it would have been the end.

"How old are you?" Ursula suddenly asked, trying to keep that faked benevolent voice.

"Eleven" came the feared answer, after some seconds of hesitation.

He was just a child. The knight looked at the queen, silently asking her what was her judgement.

"He saw us!" she simply exclaimed, with a flash of furious fear dancing in her blue eyes.

And that exclamation was more than enough; Ursula made a last mellifluous smile and then, without warning, dragged the boy toward the opened window, letting him tragically fall. Eleven years were too much for a child, after all.

"_The things I do for love_" she simply commented, immeditaely looking away.

As if nothing had just happened, as if no other sin was added to the list. But what difference would that have made? She was already the evil, both of them were. Not even Ella said anything, she just reach out for the other woman and kissed her lightly on the lips, as to share with her the weight of that new guilt. A guilt they didn't feel though.

_Lannisters didn't get happy endings. And that was the reason why they would have kept roaring._

* * *

**This one was probably was of the most difficult and yet funny to write; fan of game of thrones let me know if I have/haven't completely ruined it LoL Anyway, keep on sending me prompts if any of you readers want to:)**


	13. Bad impression

_**Bad impression**_

**Prompt : Cruella gets jealous and Ursula notices. Liking the attention, she teases and keep doing things/ flirting with someone/ pretending interest until Cruella gets really possessive and funny things happen. **

* * *

Forced smiles, gin in excess and heavy sighs beyond the limit of manners: those wereall little signs but they were enough to understand Cruella's discomfort. And that discomfort wasn't due to the fact that she wasn't unusually at the centre of general attention, but more to the fact that she wasn't at the centre of Ursula's one.

In fact, while she had remained in silence for at least twenty minutes, swigging shot after shot, her girlfriend had started talking condifidentially – _too_ confidentially for her own tastes – with a man in suit and tie. Sebastian something, former submarine inhabitant, Poseidon's friend, King Triton's first counselor… _Blah blah blah_… Cruella had stopped listening after the first hints of autobiography, but she did get something: those boring details didn't seem so boring to Ursula.

"Mermaid's sing can be really dangerous sometimes, but let me say that your singing voice is a joy for every ears"

"Well, let's say that I'm an octopus now"

"And the most beautiful octopus ever existed, if I am allowed to say that"

Ursula started to chuckle with a strangely skittish demeanor and – even more surprising thing – she reached out for the man, touching his arm in a friendly way. And, judging by the way he immediately kept her hand and mischievously smiled at her, he hadn't waited for anything else until that moment.

"And you are not a bad-looking lobster, yourself"

_It wouldn't be bad a fur of lobster, as well_ \- Cruella thought ironically, glaring at them from afar. She swigged another shot and mumbled another order.

"Oh, I see you've met dear Sebastian!" Poseidon exclaimed, choosing that exact moment to show up, giving a satisfied smile to the happy new couple.

_Perfect, here it is the submarine Cupid._ But where the hell was her new shot?

Ursula and Sebastian continued to chat and chuckle for a little while, this time encouraged by the King of the sea, who wasn't hiding his joy to see his daughter and his close friend so close. Cruella instead wasn't happy at all, while she just kept on looking and drinking. And mumbling not better identified words. Usually she would have stood up and yelled some random insults to the man who was daring flirting with her girlfriend, but in that moment she just felt paralyzed.

Maybe because she had drunk too much or because she hadn't drunk enough yet.

Or maybe just because, for the first time in her life, she was actually _jealous_.

"Urs, I think your friend is having a stroke" Poseidon suddenly said, turning casually to the seated woman and noticing probably for the first time her presence in the little group.

Hearing that sentence, Ursula's smile faded away immediately replaced by a worried expression, as she turned to the animal witch as well. She had noticed that, since the beginning of the evening, Cruella had been acting strange and honestly, she had liked that strange power she found herself to have on her thanks to a little bit of jealousy. But now that game was probably lasting too long and maybe – judging by the number of shots on the table – it could be the cause of her girlfriend's ethylic coma.

Despite her worry, Ursula didn't say anything though, but only because the other woman, probably awakened by that crack of attention, had already stood up and had started to cover in little steps the distance that was separating her from the other three people.

"Ursula doesn't like men…" she simply said, leaning on a footstool and glaring at the half lobster.

"There's no problem, I have been an animal" he answered, joking again.

Yes, and if Cruella had been more sober she would have thought about blowing in his face, commanding him to disappear from the face of the Earth. Instead, she just approached him more and pointed a finger at him.

"Stupid _red shell_, I mean that she likes women! She likes _me_!" she exclaimed bluntly, letting herself go to her feeling, made stronger by the abuse of alcohol. "Right, darling?" she added then, turning slightly her head to Ursula, giving her an almost uncertain look.

And that uncertainty was stressed by a sudden loss of balance that almost made her fall to the floor. Almost, because the octopus woman was quick to grab her with her tentacles, holding her until she could stand on her feet again. However the embarassment of the moment wasn't over, because without any warning, Cruella still half bent, found herself throwing up straight in front of the King of the Sea.

Luckily for her, her drunk state was covering her sense of shame.

About Ursula, well, she was strangely feeling a sense of pride instead and – at most – amusement for the scene.

"Excuse me, but now I think it's time for me to bring my _girlfriend_ home" she said in fact, calmly.

And while Poseidon and Sebastian remained to stare at her with widened eyes – hard to say if by astonishment or rather more by disgust – Ursula dragged Cruella out of the place, keeping her head held high.

* * *

"Stop laughing, Ursula!" Cruella commanded, emerging from the covers with a nasty glare.

But that exclaimation only increased the sea witch's laugh, even if it was an almost tender one. She had just confessed to the other woman that everything happened the previous night was the product of a game – and Cruella had totally fallen for it. And damn it, how much it was annoying her now to know about that!

It wasn't because she had showed her weakness to Ursula, but rather because she had showed her madness in front of her father!

Goodbye to any chance to be welcomed in the _giant squids family_.

"Com'on, you have been so cute…" Ursula teased her, keeping on smiling amusingly.

This time Cruella sighed heavily and covered again herself under the cover, in a sudden new attack of pure shame. Even if it was past midday, her hangover wasn't over yet and the physical pain was worsened by the memory of the night before. They were vague and general memories, but the scene of herself throwing up in front of King Poseidon was something very clear in her mind.

"I've made a terrible impression on your father, don't you see that, darling?" she whispered, while a rare expression of fear appeared on her face.

Ursula didn't dare denying it, but gave her a reassuring smile anyway.

Because in the meantime, with that strange display of care, Cruella had made a good impression _on her_.


	14. Ghosts of the Past

_**Ghosts of the Past**_

**Prompt: Could you write a story about something happening that makes cruella remember her past and upsets her and Ursula asks for her to tell her what happened to Cruella as a child? Thank you :)**

* * *

The De Vils were a pretty little family indeed; it was a bit strange of course and some time before, no one would have bet a single coin on it, but now everyone couldn't helpt but smile approvingly when they saw the two women walk hand in hand with their lively son.

No longer after they had arrived in town, they had both realized that, as everyone else, their happy ending should have been about love; luckily for them, they didn't have to search very far for it. They suddenly got married and Cruella unexpectedly got pregnant, but those unpredictable changes proved to be the keys of their happiness – because yes, now they were very happy. And how was it possible the contrary with the hurricane of joy that the little Samuel De Vil was?

"Moms, can you take me to the park?"

The usual question of the Friday afternoon didn't come late and the two women – Ursula sitting on the sofa watching tv and Cruella by her side reading a book – exchanged a quick look of complicit exasperation.

"No, Sam, it's too hot today and moms are tired…" the sea witch answered, caring to change the look into a sweet one.

But Samuel – who had taken all Ursula's stubborness and all Cruella's love for drama – approached more the sofa with the arms crossed at his chest and a terribly begging look.

"No, darling, you know that _puppy eyes_ don't work on me…". This time it was Cruella to intervene. "Why don't you do your homework today? We'll take you to the park tomorrow…"

"But Neal and Alexandra go now!" the child immediately replied, unavoidably angrier for the mention of homework. "And you promised it!" added then, pointing his little finger to the sea witch.

"Hey, calm down honey… You are not Rumplestiltskin's son after all!" she exclaimed ironically and then she looked back to the tv – sign that the conversation for her was over.

But evidently for him it was not. His look from begging became furious and - hurt by the ruin of his afternoon plan and maybe mostly by the lack of attention - didn't hide his protest.

"You are a liar!" he yelled as a _little devil_. But it was his next sentece to reveal an almost diabolic side. "I'm so angry now… I'm so angry that I could kill you!"

A perfect astonished silence followed those words, but it didn't last long. In fact, Ursula was quick to grab her son by one arm, starting to reproaching as better as she could, even threatening him not to take him to the park ever again. And yet in that reaction she didn't see anything more than an excess of rage, stubborness and tantrum; after all what could have they expected from him being the son of two villains? But that was exactly what hit and hurt Cruella instead, even if she didn't give voice to her upset. She didn't yell, she didn't threaten and didn't even give punishments; Ursula just watched her standing up slowly from the sofa and after some seconds heard the sound of the bathroom door being locked.

* * *

It took more than five minutes and at least twenty knocks on the door, before Ursula's intensive strategy finally worked. At some point between the "_Cru, open the door_" and the not so empty threat of "_Otherwise I'll shoot it down with my tentacles_", the lock was opened. Behind the door, Cruella was sitting on the floor, holding her kness to her chest and with an empty expression on her face. Clearly there was something wrong and it was something that concerned her past; actually, she didn't talk much about it, but Ursula knew her enough to understand that when she did talk about it, everything was bound to end in tragedy.

"Cru, what's up?" the sea witch asked, approaching cautiously, until she kneeled beside her wife. This time she had chosen the soft method.

"Samuel wanted to kill you"

The icy and unnaturally impassive hiss really sounded diabolic, as if it was a far voice coming straightly from Hell; that was exactly the reason why Ursula tried her best to make a laugh.

"He's just a child and he was angry. He didn't really mean that"

"But I did"

While saying that blunt answer, Cruella finally looked up and made herself be seen. Now Ursula could notice in her blue eyes a trace of fear and also a trace of humanity.

"I was only a child too, and yet I killed – I killed my father and my mother and her husbands…" she admitted without shame but with a sort of sorrow. "You shouldn't have married me, Urs"

"What? Are you saying that-"

"I mean it" she insisted, not rejecting the unusual mea culpa. "If I won't destroy this family, it will be Sam the one to do that. Because he is my son and he will become exactly like me… And I don't want this"

Here it was the essence of her suffering. She didn't give a damn about mea culpa after all; at stake there was something bigger and more intrinsically human than remorse: _mother love_. In that moment she would have given anything to prevent her child from living her own fate, but this simply because she didn't want to see him angry, lonely and un happy as she had been for so long. _She didn't give a damn about morality._

"I want to stop living with ghosts of the past, I want something better for the three of us"

Memory had left room for the implicit confession of love and in all of this Ursula had just kept staring at her in understanding. Only in that moment she allowed the understanding to be replaced by solace and instinctively she took her in her arms.

"It will be okay, Cru. I know you're afraid, but I promise that our Sam will grow up in the best way possible"

"You can't promise such a thing" Cruella whispered back, but didn't refuse the embrace anyway.

The sea witch didn't lie and remained silent, simply continuing to offer his comfort until that moment would have passed. But Cruella's relief came only later and it was no thanks to her. In fact, suddenly Samuel showed up with the head down and the eyes full of tears.

"Moms… I'm- I'm so sorry, I didn't mean that… I love you both so much…"

He had a broken voice and the tears started to fall on his face. It was then that Cruella smiled authentically: she had never succeeded to cry, not even once; she had never felt any kind of regret for all the terrible things she had said – let alone for what she had done.

But instead Samuel De Vil was now crying and in those tears Cruella had the certainty that everything would have gone well, after all.

* * *

**Hello!:) I know, it's been so so long since I last updated, but I had total lack of inspiration about the ship. Now, I hope to write more and also hope that you are still interested in this collection:)**


	15. Love is weakness

_**Love is weakness**_

**Prompt: What if Cruella managed to get Isaac to rewrite her ending so she was free to do the one thing she has always loved to do? And what if just as she has her ability to murder again, Ursula returns to Storybrooke determined to make things right with Cruella? She realises how foolish she was to not realise the truth: Cruella's her happy ending, her voice was just a part of her happiness. And if Cruella happens to kill a character or two—whether it includes Isaac that's up to you—and what if something happens (what that is, is totally up to you) where she's faced with the possibility of killing the only person she has ever loved? Would she be able to kill Ursula?**

**Note: It's quite dark and angst and tragic, I'm warning you! Oh and there is a hint to Authella.**

* * *

_Love is weakness_: Cruella had never fully understood the meaning of it, until she saw Isaac literally sign his death sentence. He knew whatwas about to happen to him, and yet he did it anyway. Some gentle words and a kiss on the lips had been enough for him to give in, annulling with a blow of ink the long crusade he had been leading against her. Was his life really so little worthy for him? Well, for her it was even less.

"Do you have some last words to say?" she whispered in his ear, slowly pulling out the gun – now again useful – from under the fur.

The author turned around and gave her a weak smile. "I love you, Cruella". He said those words with a sincere tone and his look was so calm and resigned that she remained astonished. But not enough to be diverted from her psycho plan.

After all, she still wanted her revenge and she also had to try her new found power.

Therefore, despite everything, she put the gun to his head. It was the point that granted a quicked death, but most of all the one that offered a more sadistically voluptuous show.

"We'll see each other again in Hell, Isaac" she whispered and before she was done speaking, the bullet had already exploded in his brain.

With her eyes slightly widened – more out of surprise than upset – she took a step back just to admire better the lifeless body of the man who claimed to love her, while his blood kept on falling on the ground. It was only when it reached her heels that the full awareness of her deed hit her.

_And she smiled_. It sounded like the start of a true happy ending.

* * *

Afterwards, she had became addicted to blood once again. In less than two weeks she had made other victims, attracting them in Gold's cabin, where she had been hiding. The funniest thing was that no one knew that she was behind the disappearances and no one was caring about looking for her: Gold was back to his Belle, Maleficent had found her daughter and everyone thought that the worst evil had already been defeated. What a huge mistake to underestimate a girl with furs and diamonds! Maybe they would have realized that before Storybrooke would have turned into a _necropolis_.

One night, while Cruella was enjoying a bottle of gin, there was a knock on the door and for a moment she feared that before was coming _too before_. She grabbed automatically the gun and approached slowly the door, ready to kill whatever Charming in her way. But instead, on the other side appeared someone else and she found herself lowering the weapon, while a sincere smile crossed her lips.

"Ursula… What are you doing here?" she asked with a softer tone than she would have wanted.

"I knew I would have found you here…" the other woman simply replied, entering the cabin not waiting for an invitation.

"What are you doing here?" Cruella asked again, this time with a louder and also more diffident tone. Her resentment for having been left alone some months before didn't take long to show up again.

Ursula approached slowly and grabbed her by her amrs, not without a certain hesitation. "I've heard about missing people in town and I was worried for you…" she confessed, and nothing in her voice and in her look suggested anything different from concern. And affection, maybe.

"Oh, how kind of you! You've left your tail and your precious daddy because you were worried _about me_?". Irony was everywhere, but it soon frezeed though. "There is no reason to be worried anyway, darling. _I_ have been the one to make the old shewolf and that prince Eric disappear…"

The sweet expression on the sea witch's face vanished immediately and instictively she took a step back. "Wh-what does that mean?"

Cruella rolled her eyes, annoyed by that predictable but yet exaggerated terror. "It means exactly what I said. _Killing_ is my happy ending, as for you is your voice" she explained more clearly, not missing the chance to have a dig at her.

Ursula widened her eyes full of confusion, but paradoxically in that moment it was the implicit accusation she had just received to upset her more.

"My voice is not my happy ending, I've been wrong. My happy ending is something bigger and my singing voice is just a part of it… As _you_ are as well" she said – something between a love confession and an apologia. And against any instinct of survival, she started to move toward her again.

The abusive owner moved too and started to touch lightly her friend's face with her fingers. Slowly, she let their faces meet as well and, animated by a new strange curiosity, claimed a meeting between their lips. It was not a gentle kiss because she was not able to do that, but it was the first kiss in her life that allowed her to feel something.

Maybe because Ursula was after all the only person in the world that had managed to make her cry, the only person in the world she had been missing, the only person in the world she had ever felt something real for.

That realization suddenly hit her with all its destroying power and immediately she found herself pushing Ursula far away, while raising the gun again.

"What do you want to do, Cru? It's me, Ursula!"

"Oh, I know that it's you, darling" she just replied and her voice sounded tired and sad.

"Cru, you don't have to do this. I can help!" Ursula quickly exclaimed, trying in vain to stop the arm with the gun. "We can put an end to your illness together… Let me help you!"

Out of the blue, Cruella chuckled and that chuckle was the self-encouragement she needed to keep the weapon steady. "_Illness_? Oh, no darling, this is simply my essence… And you are an obstacle!"

The sea witch stopped her attempts and just stared at the woman in front of her, looking suddenly resigned and maybe disappointed. It was a look that Cruella knew very well, because it was the same Isaac's had right before he died.

"I'm sorry…" the serial killer murmured and the tear that unwillingly fell from her eyes proved that she really meant it.

For the first time she was _crying _and not smiling in front of the idea of a corpse.

For the first time she was killing not because she wanted to, but because she _had_ to.

Love is weakness, love is the real illness. And there was only a way to prevent herself from being infected as well.

_Bang bang_.

* * *

**Just a quick note at the end to thank for the kind reviews I've received! Hope you liked this chpater too, despite everything LoL**


	16. Too many clothes

_**Too many clothes**_

**Prompt: Cruella can't swim and Ursula takes her out to the beach or lake one day, and won't step a foot in because she is afraid to drown. So she clings to Ursula the whole time they are in the water. While Ursula teases her about it.**

* * *

"Do you really think your attire is appropriated for a day at the beach?"

Cruella just gave herself a look into the rear-view mirror. Leather pants, heels, fur coat and the inevitable red gloves: the same attire as ever, plus a pair of sunglasses. Sure, maybe it was a bit too hot, but it was eight in the morning and it was _only_ the first days of June. It was not even summer yet, as a matter of fact.

"What's wrong with my attire?" she asked with a disarming confidence.

Before getting an answer, she was already out of the car and it was a good choice because an answer never came. In fact, Ursula just looked at her moving her first steps on the sand, cursing at the sight of a crab, and eventually lay out a white beach towel with black pois at a few metres from the water. It was only when she saw her also sitting down on it and pulling out of her bag a magazine, that she forced herself to remember that she hadn't lost completely her voice after all.

"Cru, what do you think you're doing?"

"Isn't that obvious? Feel free to swim a little, darling… If you don't take too long, we still can manage to take the best brioches at Granny's"

Ursula looked at her incredulously, but she wouldn't have let herself be tricked by that behaviour. They had a deal after all, and, if she wanted, she could become more dangerous than Rumplestiltskin.

"Oh, but I remember the plans to be different…" she pointed out, taking away the magazine from the other woman's hands, not caring for her complaints. "Now you come with me… I told you that today I would have thought you how to swim and now I intend to keep that promise!" she continued then, hinting an enthusiast smile and offering her hand.

Cruella raised the glasses on her head and looked at Ursula in a way that maybe was intented to be confused, but instead ended up to be begging. However, remembering the long argument of the previous day, she eventually decided to give up and found herself grabbing the offered hand to stand up. Leaving the bag, the magazine and even the heels on the towel, she was literally trailed to the shore and soon – _too_ soon – she had one foot into the water. A shiver – either of cold, disgust or fear – took control of her and immediately she stepped back.

"Com'on Cru! Even dalmatian puppies can swim, you know?" the sea witch teased her, trying to play down the situation. Because now that she was seeing the meeting between her girlfriend and the sea, she could certify that it was a tragedy indeed.

"I don't care! I could _drown_, you don't understand!" the other exclaimed without listening to reasons, skipping in order to avoid the waves.

Ursula looked up to the sky, slightly annoyed by that drama, and then removed the light dress remaining just in a bathing suit. That was the appropriated attire for the beach and she was going to prove that to Cruella as well. In fact, without saying a word, she started to remove her fur, the gloves and every other garment; the other woman let her, curiosed by the suddenly hot turn of things, but when she was just in her underwear, a strange sense of reserve forced her to protest.

"Hey, someone could see me, darling! And we can't leave my clothes here… Someone could steal them!"

"No one is here at this time! And certaintly _no one_ is going to steal your clothes, trust me…" came Ursula's ironic reply. "But you were right about one thing… You could have actually drown with all those clothes on!" she explained then, erasing that way any mischievous idea from her mind.

Usually Cruella wouldn't have lost the chance to retort, but the shock of taking four steps into the water - and finding herself immersed until the calf - was so much that she was out of breath. Obviously, this progress was made squeezing the octopus lady's arm on the edge of crushing, and that was a vision meant to cause incredulity but also tenderness. That didn't prevent Ursula from teasing her though.

"It isn't normal for a villain like you to fear the water! What do you think Mal and Regina will say when I'll tell them?"

"Oh, don't you ever dare!"

Five steps.

"But you see, it really isn't normal at all! I mean, we are together and I am the sea witch!"

Six steps.

"What does that even mean? I don't complain about the fact that you can't use a gun!"

Seven steps.

"But it's not the same"

Eight steps.

"But it is… Tomorrow I'll take you to Storybrooke's polygon"

Nine steps.

"There is not a polygon in Sto-"

But Urusla was forced to stop her answer when she found Cruella's body literally pressed against her own and she could therefore feel her shaking. But after all, it was known that water at the height of the waist was _dangerous_. Anyway, she slightly pushed her away and, still holding her hands, turned into an octopus, starting to wrapping her body with her tentacles.

"Hush, love, you have ten hands holding you at the moment…" she whispered sweetly, letting their faces meet and placing a quick kiss on her lips. "I am your personal life belt and I promise not to let you drown okay?" she proposed in such a voice as if she were talking with a three years old child.

Perhaps it was the sudden kindness of the voice, the tender kiss or the feeling of being wrapped by the tentacles, but Ms De Vil finally managed to relax a bit. Claming another kiss – this time longer and more passionate – she found herself bravely immersing more into the water. She had to recognize that she didn't mind that feeling now and, when their mouths were apart again, she had even the strenght to smile mischievously.

"You know, I still think I could drown… I should remove these clothes too!" she teased, referring to her own underwear.

Ursula just looked at her for some moments and then let out a small chuckle. "I don't think that is necessary…" she replied, but her voice was mischievously too.

_And in some seconds, Cruella was naked anyway._

* * *

**Feel free to imagine what happens next... Because well, I did ;)**


	17. The way to greatness

_**The way to greatness**_

**Prompt: ****First night at Hogwarts**

* * *

Cruella was tired of being an ordinary person; she had been for all her young life, but now she finally had the chance to change. She had lived locked in her mother's attic since she was very little, until one day a special owl arrived carrying a letter: here it was explained the strange accidents she was protagonyst of, here it was explained that magic she had always felt inside her, here it was explained that desire for darkness too.

A wand, a black and white owl, a cauldron and a train, headed far, far away from that ordinary she hated so much. She was ready to be special, she was ready not to be alone anymore. The door of her compartment opened right in that moment as an answer to her thoughts, showing the cordial face of a girl of her same age.

"Can I sit here?" she asked, but without waiting for the answer she had already took a seat in front of her, hinting a smile.

It was difficult to classify it as friendly or annoying. But Cruella after some moments of hesitation decided for the first option and tried to smile back. There was something in the new girl's feautures that attracted her; maybe it was the dark color of her hair and skin, equivalent of that darkness she loved. And then if she were on that train, she must have been someone special too.

"My name's Cruella De Vil… And who are you?"

"Ursula Triton!" the new arrived answered quickly. "My parents are both wizards, or better my mother _was_… She died some years ago" she added almost naturally, letting the smile weakening a little.

Cruella didn't offer her condolences, she just looked at her in silence and then nodded, without apparent reason. "My father is dead too…" she finally said, omitting that she had had a part in it. "He was an _ordinary _man, just like my mother…" she continued though, finding a way to express her contempt toward her parents.

"_Muggle_, you mean"

Miss De Vil just shrugged. "It's the same"

They remained silent for some instants, looking at each other every now and then, or looking at the world outside the window that was becoming more and more magical. The interruption was offered by the arrival of the wagon of sweets and the sweets offered even a reason to talk: in fact, Ursula started to introduce the main foods of the magical world and then moved to a lot of other topics; Cruella listened patiently and couldn't help but feel more attracted by that girl. Even if she talked too much.

"…It's the hat to choose, but my father says that he considers your preference. Which house would you like to be in?"

The blonde shrugged and hesitated for a short while before answering; she knew nothing about Hogwarts's houses, apart from what she had just been told, but frankly she didn't care less.

"I don't know… I'd just like to be _great_ somehow" she admitted in the end with a strange twinkle in her blue eyes. "Maybe we could be great together. What do you say?"

Ursula's dark eyes darkened if possible even more. Slytherin: there was no other way to describe the place her new friend wanted to be in, but it was also the same place she herself didn't want to end up.

Anyway, she didn't say anything and just attempted a smile.

* * *

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The hat's yell was like a stab in the chest for Cruella, a feeling she was having for the first time in her life. While she watched her only friend heading with a smile on her lips to the table of her new house, she felt angry, hurt, betrayed and most of all very lonely. She hated herself for that, but let her eyes reveal nothing more than a certain coldness. After all, her turn came too soon to allow her to express anything else.

"Mmm… New in the world of magic, aren't you? I see that you're smart, but no, Ravenclaw isn't your way… You want to be special, great, powerful and oh… I see the right pinch of wickedness! I know exactly where to put you…"

The hat on her head hadn't said the destination yet, but her mind had already arrived at the same conclusion. And for a moment she found herself hating it, while her eyes unwillingly looked for Ursula – revealing now everything but coldness. Affection, fear, despair… Feelings the hat immediately perceived as well and so it shut up, hesitating before saying its sentence.

"You don't seem convincted though… Would you like to be with your friend?"

Cruella looked up, in the vain attempt to look at the hat in the eyes, and then looked back again to Ursula. "Yes, if it's possible…" she let escape, with a trace of hope in her voice, suddenly remembering about the chance of choice the other girl had talked about in the train.

"Hufflepuff: the house of the justs, patients, loyals… I don't think it's the most appropriate for you, but at least you must have loyalty if you want to follow your friend so much…"

"Yes, I do! Put me in her same house!" she exclaimed immediately, without even understanding completely the adjectives just used by the hat.

It laughed uenxpectedly. "No, you are not patient at all. And tell me, would you be avaible to work hard and be totally at others' service?"

Cruella felt confused and inside even a bit disgusted by the idea. "What do you mean?"

"You won't react to offenses, you will offer your help to other people, you will avoid any argument and any deception… You will be good, honest… An ordinary person"

The girl, who had remained silent until that moment, suddenly let out a scream hearing the last sentence. "NO!"

And in the same instant the hat announced a convincted: "SLYTHERIN!"

Cruella stood up and, slightly shaken, reached the table where green-silver dressed boys and girls were clapping. A bit annoyed, not speaking to anyone and keeping her eyes down, she took a seat beside a redhead girl with a stragely olive-colored skin. But she didn't realize that she had hit a dirty-blond boy in the process. He must had some years more than her, but yet she was a bit taller than him already.

"Watch out, little girl… You wouldn't like to be on my black list" he said with a smirk, sure to scare her at least a bit.

But she just smirked back. "Com'on, _short stuff. Shall I get you a step stool so you can look me in the eyes while you threaten me_?"

The boy appeared indignant for a moment, but then unexpectedly smiled and even offered his hand. "I am Rumplestiltskin Gold"

Cruella shook his hand and introduced herself as well. Maybe she wouldn't have been completely alone, maybe she would have gained other friends… But yet, while some moments later she shook Zelena Mills's hand too, she couldn't help but give a look to the black-yellow table and think that she would have always preferred that first real friendship with Ursula.

_Always._

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**I know, it's been long since my last update. But what can I say? "I'm a really terrible person" LoL. Thanks so much to KirijoKanaru ** f**or the prompt, I really hope you liked it!:)**

**Oh an talking about late updates, I've run out of prompts now, so I don't know when I'll update again! **


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